Social Impact

Communities

As engineers, our goal is to help build stronger communities.

At SNC-Lavalin, we know that we can make a difference in every community where we work. That’s why we always strive to leave behind a positive and sustainable legacy. Not only through the impact of our engineering and technologies, but also through project-related economic spinoffs, local employment and training, and charitable involvement.

Our success hinges on an effective and proactive approach to community engagement. We not only look at what local stakeholders can do for the project, but also what our client’s project can do for them.

This approach allows us to truly align project and stakeholder needs and interests. It creates the conditions for engaging respectfully with each other. Together, we find solutions to issues that are important to and generate benefits for all. This includes ensuring that our solutions help communities achieve their social and economic development goals.

A focus on sustainable development

Our vision is to work with clients to implement, whenever and wherever possible, a sustainable development strategy for each project. In part, this means looking for engineering solutions that contribute to sustainability. Our power, oil and gas, infrastructure, and mining and metallurgy experts seek sustainable solutions throughout a project’s lifecycle.

Sustainable development also includes engaging with the community and key stakeholders in a meaningful way from the very outset of every project. The objective is to ensure optimal local involvement and benefits at every step. Our best-in-class Local Resources Development Initiative (LRDITM) helps us do just that. Today, LRDITM is considered a best practice for stakeholder relations.

LRDITM: a shared-value approach

LRDITM focuses on creating shared value between our projects and local rights-holders, governments and other community stakeholders. It makes the economic and social development of host communities a key priority. Since 1997, we’ve partnered with clients to successfully integrate LRDITM into a dozen projects worldwide.

LRDITM is based on four main pillars:

Establishing a training program for the local labour force

Documenting and tracking the local labour force during the construction phase

Optimizing local goods, services and businesses on the projectaProviding a support strategy to develop local communities and Aboriginal peoples

Implementing LRDITM strategies requires that we develop a full understanding of the positive impacts a project can generate. We then work with local stakeholders to maximize these spin-offs to benefit the entire community.

Strengthening clients’ social license to operate

Clients have identified LRDITM as a key driver of their projects’ success. LRDITM helps them obtain and strengthen their social license to operate at the project’s outset. It serves as a key differentiator and competitive advantage at a time when the need for resources and the influx of capital are at their peak. As the project moves into the operations phase, we gradually transfer this knowledge and these skills to clients.

As an integral part of a project’s sustainability and social responsibility framework, LRDITM allows us to pinpoint and address social issues and opportunities at all project stages. In turn, this creates new possibilities for both the project and sharing value with the community. LRDITM strategies also enable us to avoid social hazards and minimize other risks during project execution.

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About SNC

Founded in 1911, SNC-Lavalin is a global fully integrated professional services and project management company and a major player in the ownership of infrastructure. From offices around the world, SNC-Lavalin's employees are proud to build what matters. Our teams provide comprehensive end-to-end project solutions – including capital investment, consulting, design, engineering, construction management, sustaining capital and operations and maintenance – to clients across oil and gas, mining and metallurgy, infrastructure, clean power, nuclear and EDPM (engineering design and project management). On July 3, 2017, SNC-Lavalin acquired Atkins, one of the world’s most respected design, engineering and project management consultancies, which has been integrated into our sectors.